


The End

by Trash



Series: Faux Pas [3]
Category: Linkin Park
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-11-12
Updated: 2013-11-12
Packaged: 2018-01-01 07:32:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 562
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1042090
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Trash/pseuds/Trash
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Brad had promised him that, no matter what, they’d always hang out. But that doesn’t change the fact that they’re going to different schools, or that Mike is absolutely terrified of starting anew.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The End

The university fayre is crowded, and maybe it’s just the flocks of people grabbing flyers offering free beer from the hands of volunteers and the pulse of the music playing so loud everybody is shouting that is making Mike feel so anxious. Or maybe it’s the idea of doing this all on his own.

Brad had promised him that, no matter what, they’d always hang out. But that doesn’t change the fact that they’re going to different schools, or that Mike is absolutely terrified of starting anew.

“Go to the fayre.” Brad had said the night before, the noise of his room mate unpacking in the background. “Everybody is in the same boat, dude, so don’t freak out so much.”

Which. Well, it makes sense. And Mike knows that if he keeps complaining he’ll sound like one of those guys. Those co-dependant guys. Which, he supposes, he is. And Brad can be as reassuring as he likes, it doesn’t change the fact that he’s already made a bunch of friends and really like his roommate and that Mike hasn’t managed to click with a single person yet and has a room to himself because the guy he was meant to room with dropped out at the last minute.

“Look,” Brad says over the phone, “I have to go. Dave, he caught his finger in his suitcase and there’s, like, blood everywhere. Oh man that’s fucking gross.”

And in the background Dave is howling in pain but laughing too and Brad is laughing and this is just all too much fucking mirth so Mike hangs up and stares around his room, lost. He hasn’t been lonely before, and it’s such a strange feeling that he can’t help but cry.

So he goes to the fayre, and he feels like a fish out of water. He wishes, suddenly, that he spent his time in high school sleeping with busty cheerleaders and drinking beer and then he could walk into college feeling confident. But the fact that he hasn’t slept with a girl, and has no desire to, makes him feel like an outsider.

He spots the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transexual table at the other end of the hall, a huge rainbow framing the title. He knows this is the only reason he came here, really. There are no other groups he could join where he’ll fit in. But there’s not really any room there for somebody who doesn’t know who they are. Everybody is something, but Mike thinks he might be nothing.

He might be nobody.

That’s certainly how he’s been made to feel recently. From pretending that Mike doesn’t have feelings for him to never returning his calls, Brad has slowly began to shoulder him out of his life and it hurts. He takes a deep breath and approaches the table only to be shoved out of the way by two girls holding hands and talking excitedly. Mike knows he should want this and he doesn’t. He doesn’t want anything. He wants his and Brad’s friendship back but it’ll never happen now.

He feels empty.

And after a long time of standing a foot from the table and watching people sign up Mike walks away. He wants to call Brad. He wants to tell him how confused he is, how upset he is. But he changes his mind, and crawls into bed instead.


End file.
